The Speckled Ax

October 19, 2015December 10, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ 1 Comment

If the waves were larger, if the temperature was higher, if the wind would lie down I’d get in the water. Or so I tell myself.

We even saw paddle boards, yesterday, at the L.L. Bean mothership, where I went to buy boots but left with a bright blue non-spill mug with LL Bean stamped on the side. I’ll curl up with it this winter watching waves while wondering just how cold it would be in Portland. I might even ask my iPhone.

Outside L. L. Bean, in the breeze, I couldn’t pull my hands from the warmth of my flannel lined pockets to touch any one of the boards on display. But today, while Donna stretched herself back together at Portland Power Yoga, I started a post from the Speckled Ax and felt like I’d come full circle and don’t really know why. A double cappuccino and salted chocolate donut can do that.

What SUP Portland Maine?

October 18, 2015November 15, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

There’s water. There’s color; a hint of winter in the sky. And there’s paddle boarding that might be a shade cool, if not down right freezing in the early morning light.

I bought my first pair of flannel-lined jeans to walk around the breezy streets, before an evening with writers at Longfellow Books. Tonight G.A. Morgan, author and editor, was in conversation with Kate Christensen, author of How To Cook A Moose.

The two were clearly connected to each other and embrace the people, the land, and the work ethic shared by Mainers.

G.A. discussed the second book in her Five Stones trilogy, Chantarelle. It’s a young adult fantasy whose setting was inspired by her childhood trips to the Acadia area.

She and I briefly discussed SUP and writing. She told me to check out Higgins Beach. It’s 20 minutes from our Portland home. There’s a paddle board shop close by. When in Maine?

D.A. Morgan, left. Kate Christensen, right

Walden Pond

October 15, 2015December 10, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

I tried to like Thoreau. I admire his sparseness. I almost bought a Simplicity Tshirt from the store. But would Thoreau approve? How many shirts did he have for his two years two months and two days at Walden Pond? And the winters in a one-room house. How much work did it take to stay warm during the long, low-light, bitter-cold season.

It’s only 1.8 miles to Concord where he lived as a child. Did the two hour hike through snow and ice test his resolve. I think the book has the answer. If only I had the patience to sit through it.

And would he laugh or cry at this photo? Or would he even care?

Grounded in New England

October 12, 2015October 16, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

This isn’t about standup paddle boarding though there is a paddle board in the garage and two outside the next-door neighbor’s porch.

But the Narragansett wind has yet to lay down since we arrived in Barrington.

We visited Colt State Park yesterday where blue sky and dark water framed sail boats playing in the bay. The park could have been anywhere, except for the age of the buildings that had a sturdy maturity to them; a certain regal angle about the way they held themselves. Not pretentious, but stable, connected to the earth, set against a treelined backdrop.

We drove into Bristol where some of the trees were turning, and the street lines were a patriotic red, white and blue. The waterfront cafes varied from contemporary burger joints to the historical DeWolf Tavern where rum barrels and old photos were the last vestiges of the slave trade triangle from the 1700s.

We finished the day watching Tom Brady lead the Patriots to a stomping of the Dallas Cowboys while listening to our host’s sister discuss authors whom she’d lead around the Boston area including Anne Lamott, J.K. Rowling, and T.C. Boyle.

I’m looking forward to seeing the blast of fall color that has so far only punctuated the landscape. But I’ve been happy just to roam New England and marvel at the old wood floors, the simple shingle structures, and the lacework water ways that weave through the countryside and the city.

New England Paddle Boarding?

October 11, 2015November 3, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

Been here two full days and have yet to see a paddle boarder. But they’re here. In fact there’s a paddle board in our Rhode Island garage. There’s water everywhere around Boston and Rhode Island so it’s just a matter of time before a paddle boarder appears.

We met a mariner living on a bluff over a Cape Ann bay. He was building a boat, by hand. Below his home lurked a left that surfers rode during large winter waves. Cold water waves. Last year there were paddle boarders in the lineup.

Strandbeests!

October 10, 2015December 21, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ 1 Comment

We heard these creatures sometimes roamed the beaches. They’d been sighted on Boston’s north shore. Our friend from Boston, Letti, took us to the Peabody Essex in Salem where these beests were on exhibit. There are lots of detailed drawings, and models. The beests can move, and they do. Theo, the creator, greeted us through many videos in which he discusses his process, his vision, his passion. He does it with straight face including a ditty about the reproductive process. We look forward to the exhibit getting to San Francisco’s Exploratorium sometime in the next couple of years.

Fenway Park Takes Me Back

October 8, 2015December 10, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

I’ve never been to Boston though I remember Wade Boggs. It was 1986. Donna and I had returned from our very romantic honeymoon at Packer Lake Lodge. We took lovely hikes and drove the Gold Lake Highway to Graeagle for supplies and sweets. A large bear strode across the road so quickly that it seemed imagined.

The day after returning to work I got sick. Real sick. Tired to the bone sick. I watched post-season baseball. Redsox and Mets. I don’t remember who won but do remember Wade Boggs running bases on old worn out knees and Lenny Dykstra chewing gum, making stunning center field plays and getting on base over and over.

We’re in the air to Boston. My first trip to New England. There are tours of Fenway Park where I’m sure there are vestiges of Wade and that post season back in 1986. It’s only a mile or two from our friend Letti’s place in Cambridge.

I looked it up. The Mets won in 7. Here’s an image with the left field Green Monster.

Broken Golden Rules

September 25, 2015November 15, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ 1 Comment

This past weekend I was in the lineup with other surfers for the first time since I started SUP surfing. It’s been two months, and I still won’t go out in a large lineup, but there were only 5 people in the water. We’d put in at New Brighton and paddled toward Capitola. It was stunning weather, with calm ocean and blue sky. On the paddle up the coast we were accompanied by otters, brown pelicans, caspian terns, murres, and the odd harbor seal. We even saw one humpback, but it was farther out to sea.

The waves at Sharks were small and there were only 5 people out. Maybe 1-3 feet with the majority of the waves flowing through at about a foot or so. To me it was perfect. Two of the surfers were clearly not comfortable in the water and hung to the side not making eye contact. The other two were friendly and we shared the waves. I caught a couple of nice little waves before the Golden Rule got broken. I didn’t break it, and I’m still not sure how to discuss this with the rule breakers. It’s so difficult to give a critique, especially to a surfer in the water.

Four young men with rented boards paddled into the lineup. They didn’t look right on the boards, like maybe this was their first time in the water. They paddled inside the area where the wave broke and then tried to paddle into waves after another surfer was already on the wave. I took off on a nice little right only to look up to see one of the “inside gang” trying for the wave too. I hollered “NO.” I don’t know if the guy stopped paddling or if he just missed the wave.

I finished the wave inside only to look up to see all three of them on the next wave, heading in my general direction. It looked like they might run over me and land on the rocks. I dove to the side releasing my board and paddle. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. I collected my board and paddle and headed back out, a tad shaken by the close call.

So how do you talk to others in the water without yelling, shouting obscenities, and the like. I mean, it was a beautiful day.

Twenty-Nine and Counting

September 22, 2015December 21, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

What SUP? 29 years, that’s what. We spent our anniversary in a quiet Aptos AirBnB retreat. A stunning little jewel tucked away in the woods. Cora’s of California. Sunday morning we got to the ocean with our SUPs and energy to paddle. The tide was high, so we paddled from New Brighton up toward the Hook. Donna had enough enthusiasm to push us both forward. Keeping us company were sea otters, dolphins, murres, caspian terns, brown pelicans, harbor seals, and kids on the Capitola shore who sounded like they were at an amusement park.

Donna dropped me off at Sharks and continued to Pleasure Point where she stayed well outside the surf zone. She was a spec on the horizon when I lost track of her. But hey. I found waves. Little bitty things. Just right for a newbie riding his bright white F-One Manawa.

And about those waves.

Donna and Tom Celebrate Their 29th Anniversary from Tom Adams on Vimeo.

Standup in Iceland

September 11, 2015November 15, 2015 ~ tomadaonline ~ Leave a comment

While reviewing the October issue of STANDUP PADDLE MAGAZINE I came across an article that started out interesting and then stopped me dead in my tracks. A European crew had taken surf boards, paddle boards, and kite boards to Iceland, along with VERY THICK wet suits, in search of cool places to paddle and surf. Sort of a search for the endless winter.

I was familiar with the terrain having spent a year there with the Air Force in 1968. I was stationed on the south east side of the island. I worked in a power plant supplying the only power the site had. We called the place, Hofn-by-the-sea. Just before I returned state side, a surfer from California showed up with board and wet suit. Both board and wet suit were locked up by the base administration so he’d still be alive for his year of duty. Here’s a photo of the installation shot from one of the Air Force jets.

The STANDUP PADDLE MAGAZINE article was well written, and had photos of surfing and paddle boarding with icebergs in the water. One full-page spread showed a black and white image of a standup paddleboarder riding a left with an extremely rugged rocky backdrop. The caption read, “Franz does a bottom turn. Hofn gives the word ‘solitary’ and entirely new meaning.” I had the same experience there though I never put my toes in the water.

This shot below is from the north side of the air base where I worked. The base, as I knew it, closed in 1992. It’s now a civilian-run air traffic control station.